


Change the World

by MiraMira



Category: In the Heights - Miranda
Genre: 100-1000 Words, Character of Color, College, F/M, One Shot, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-24
Updated: 2009-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-05 06:12:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiraMira/pseuds/MiraMira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone says long-distance relationships don't last.  Apparently no one told them that Nina Rosario is going to change the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Change the World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [glass_icarus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/glass_icarus/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide, glass_icarus! I hope I wasn't wrong in assuming that Benny/Nina is actually what you were looking for, and I hope you enjoy this treat.

They're so _excited_ to see her, the people at Stanford. Not friends, exactly: people she saw in classes; old coworkers; a few TAs, professors, and academic advisors. But oh, how _worried_ they've been, and how _relieved_ they all are that she's returned, and how tenaciously they wheedle the full story from her, bit by bit.

"How Nina got her groove back," the bold ones tease, before turning serious along with the rest. Making sure she knows there's no way it can last. That long-distance relationships never work, that Stanford will change her life if she'll just give herself over to the experience, that there are thousands of well-educated, highly-qualified guys already in California who are hunting for jobs. The barely-buried subtext being, of course, that she can do better.

She knows. Hell, Benny would be the first to agree…well, first besides her father. "You're gonna change the world someday," he told her when they made their plans. The barely-buried subtext being, of course, that a little barrio business, while a suitable dream for one who intends to stay there, is not the stuff of revolutions - and he gives himself no credit for having changed her own world.

So while she hates to admit it, a part of her is surprised when the phone calls and e-mails from New York keep coming. She isn't always able to return them right away – she _has_ to put schoolwork first, this time around – but it doesn't seem to bother him. Turns out he's almost as good at Daniela at keeping tabs on everyone from the old neighborhood, and twice as amusing. (Usnavi, she suspects, might be helping out a little with the e-mails – but she _knows_ he's not responsible for the sweet nothings, so that's all right.)

But none of their exploits interest her as much as his own, which unfold to her delight and the consternation of the gossipers. First he gets a job with another garage to tide him over while he works on getting his own place set up. Then he hits on hiring Graffiti Pete to do custom work on some of the cars, which leads to promotional ideas and a promotion of his own to the front office. Soon, he's making enough to save up for the garage and fly out to see her for a few days.

And almost imperceptibly, her plans are starting to take shape, too. Her search for "her people" has lead her through electives in Spanish and anthropology and history and a variety of other subjects she fears her father might deem a waste of tuition to one she feels almost certain he will not: the study of immigration reform, equal rights, and justice for all. There's a new set of professors excited to see her now, ones who throw around words like "publication" and "thesis" and "law school." Columbia and NYU both have top programs, one of them mentions offhand.

The world won't change overnight. But, Nina thinks with satisfaction as her friends casually greet Benny, here on one of his weekend visits, it's a start.


End file.
